CHAPTER VIII.THE TURN OF THE TIDE.
1868-1894.“Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.”
1868-1894.“Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.”
1868-1894.
“Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.”
Itwas not only the seven thousand women from Manchester and Salford who were disappointed in the results of their appeal. Women began on all sides to analyse the grounds of the judgment, and to take steps towards counteracting its baneful influence. An ever-increasing body of generous-hearted or far-seeing men joined their party, and worked with, and for them, both within and without the House of Commons. Meeting after meeting has spread enthusiasm. Petition after Petition has been presented. Bill after Bill has been brought forward. Amendment after Amendment has been proposed hitherto without success. As Mr. Stuart, M.P., once wittily said at a public meeting, “Petitions sent up by the Unrepresented, are like Bell-handles rung outside of a door, that have no bell attached at the other end. They occupy the attention of those outside of the house, but do not disturb those that are within.”The strongest plea has been taken from women. By the extension of the Franchise in 1884, the Service Clause disallowed the doctrine that taxation was the qualification for representation, and reversed the prime reason of members being first called to the House in the reign of Hen. III. If women had felt it hard that their payment of taxes had not been sufficient to purchase their right of representation, they felt it harder that their payment of taxes, invalid and inoperative as regards themselves, was valid and operative as providing the qualification of their male servants, that, in short, the qualification had been altered fundamentally. Yet some good has come out of the evil. It has provided areductio ad absurdum.
It has made women see clearly that no qualification, but that of sex, lies in the modern readings of the Statutes. They cannot alter the sex, but they may alter the Basis of Privilege. Such things have been done ere now. Ripe scholars in Mathematics have been excluded the Universities because they could not subscribe to the articles of the English Church. Political Economists have been excluded the House of Commons because they were of Jewish descent. These disabilities have been removed for men. The disabilities of sex must ere long be removed for women.
Progress has been very rapid since 1868.—The “woman’s question” no longer provokes somnolence nor awakes mirth: it is treated as a question of gravity. The publication of John Stuart Mills’ “Subjection ofWomen,” in 1869, educated many minds. The humorous treatment of the question inFraser’s Magazinein the article entitled, “Latest News from the Planet Venus,” where logical objections against Male Enfranchisement are supposed to be urged by women, taught others that there were two sides to the principles of exclusion, and that those against the Enfranchisement of men, were, to say the least of it, quite as valid, as any that have ever been brought against the Liberty of Women. Many other interesting volumes and articles have been written, making the views of women known.
Women have begun to speak for themselves, and to speak clearly—with no uncertain sound.
No new elucidation of the 1867 Charter has taken place except one very remarkable one. “If a woman’s name were to get on anelection list by mistake, and she afterwards tenders her vote, that vote must be accepted” (see“Warren on Election Law”). The humour of the remark is great. As by the mistakes of some men women lost their rights, by a further masculine mistake they may regain them. Is this what it imports? If not, what?
The 1868 Decision threw back civilisation theoretically 2000 years. But it necessitated opposition. One clear sign of this effect was given in 1869 when Mr. Jacob Bright moved a resolution in the House that women should vote in Municipal affairs, and it was adopted almost without discussion. The Bill was modified, but reconfirmed in 1882. The right has been exercised bywomen since that time without any overturning of the social fabric.
In 1870 the vote for the School Board, and eligibility thereto, was conferred upon them. Ancient rights allowed them to vote for Poor Law Guardians; and in 1888 they were allowed to vote for County Councillors. In 1893 they were made electors, and eligible for election on Parish District Councils.
Many Bills have been passed in their favour through the toil and energy of devoted women, and the co-operation of broad-minded men.
The Married Women’s Property Actsof 1870 and of 1882 have secured the earnings of industrious wives from the clutches of grasping or drunken husbands to a certain degree. A slight improvement has taken place in regard to the Custody of Infant Children. The Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1884 took a step in the right direction, though sadly crippled by its overriding conditions. (SeeMrs. Fawcett’s pamphlet on “The Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1884.”)
Various other moral Bills have showed the woman’s spirit working behind the scenes in favour of justice and mercy and chastity.
And the famous Clitheroe case, in 1891, which sent back the Judge, through lack of Precedent, to the original Statutes to find a decision as to the imprisonment of a wife, bewildered the populace, and reduced the demand for wife-kicking boots.
Public Conscience is beginning to be awakened to theerrors of its judgments in regard to women. The disproportionate awards of punishment to those who steal food when hungry, and those who maltreat their wives through tyranny, do not so often now arouse the indignation of those who read the Law Reports in newspapers.
Yet the tide has not been uniform in its motion. It is the way of waves to retire before and after a rise.
I forbear enlarging on the last great decision regarding women’s disabilities, by which the Judge, following the example of his predecessor in Rexv.Chardcroft, refused the electors of Brixton a right to elect Lady Sandhurst as County Councillor, and put another in her place that the majority of them had not elected; refused also to the County Councillors themselves their right of electing Miss Cons among their Aldermen. On May 16th, 1889, in the Queen’s Bench Division, was tried the case of Beresford-Hopev.Lady Sandhurst. The other candidates had given notice of objections to the Lady, but the Deputy disallowed these, studying only the Statute. There were 1986 votes recorded in favour of Lady Sandhurst, and 1686 in favour of Beresford-Hope, who appealed. It was allowed, that the office being new, there was no precedent to guide them; that the Municipal Act of 1882 had enacted that “for all purposes connected with the right to vote at municipal elections, words in this Act importing the masculine gender include women.” It was allowed that the Local Government Acts of 1888 contain no enactments against women.
One Judge stated that it was a new office, but that nowoman had ever sat in a Municipal Corporation. That Anne Clifford was asolitaryinstance of a woman being Sheriff.[23]That it was necessary that a statute should give express permission to women to be elected, because Lord Brougham’s Act does not apply to this.
23.See“Ante,” pp. 43, 44.
23.See“Ante,” pp. 43, 44.
23.See“Ante,” pp. 43, 44.
Another Judge stated that his opinion would have been in favour of the women’s claim, but for the 63rd Section of the Act of 1888. But the majority of those concerned, accepting the assertion “that a more learned Judge never lived than Justice Willes,” who had checked the Historical arguments in the case of Chorltonv.Lings, accepted also the decision in that case as the grounds of their Ruling. “I take it, that neither by the Common Law nor the Constitution of this country, from the beginning of the Common Law until now, can a woman be entitled to exercise any public function.”
One at least they forgot whom they might have remembered, it was the Woman from whom they held their Seals of office.
Thus Lady Sandhurst, after helping her colleagues, her country and her sex, for a year, with two other brave women were turned out, and the Council and the Country were alike the sufferers thereby. “Who will take care of the Baby Farms, the Pauper Lunatic women? the many small details that a man cannot know by accident, and prides himself in not knowing by experience?”
If they have been defeated on the County Councils, the success of women as Poor Law Guardians is undeniable.The spirit of tenderness for those who receive charity in their old age, the healing spirit of sympathy for those that have been tempted; the spirit of exact investigation of accounts, and of economy in expending the ratepayers’ money, has certainly been fostered by the presence of women on the Boards. The same may be said of women on the School Boards. They have offered themselves for many public appointments and offices. Sometimes they are accepted gladly; sometimes they are only not ejected because the law for doing so cannot be found.
A self-sacrificing worker in the cause of women has collected together and tabulated all the elections a woman may at present join, all the public offices she may at present fill. “The elections at which women may vote at present are: The House of Keyes, Isle of Man; Town Councils in England, Scotland, and Belfast; County Councils in England and Scotland, District Councils in Scotland, School Boards, Boards of Guardians, Local Boards of Health, Improvement Commissioners, Waywardens and Highway Boards, Road Surveyors, Burgh Commissioners in Scotland, Parochial Boards in Scotland, Select Vestries and District Boards in London, Burial Boards and Common Vestries.
They can be elected to School Boards, Boards of Guardians; also to Parochial Boards in Scotland and many other boards. They can be elected now to very many public offices, can be Members of Royal Commissions, Visitors of Lunatic Asylums, Inspectors of the Poorin Scotland, Inspectors of Nuisances, Registrars of Births, Deaths, and Marriages; Collectors of Poor Rates, Members of Dispensary Boards, Road Surveyors, Overseers of the Poor, Churchwardens, Sextons, Parish Clerks, Local Government Board Inspectors, County Council Inspectors of Baby Farms, Noxious Trades, etc.; Factory and Workshop Inspectors under the Home Office, Post-mistresses and Clerks in the Post Office, Census Clerks” (see“The Civil Rights of Women,” by Mrs. Eva Maclaren).
Some of these duties are, of course, performed without remuneration, but in others they are paid at a fair rate, in some cases, at the same rate as men.
I take in a separate paragraph some questions regarding work and its returns, but it seems necessary first to show the advance of education during the period. I have always felt that our sex owes much to our Queen simply forbeingwhat she is. At the time of the Reform Bill of 1832, she was being trained wisely for her future duties. The intellectual powers of a girl, when educated under favourable conditions, were brilliantly illustrated in her. The young Queen succeeded in 1837, and from the commencement of her reign there has been a constantly expanding view of the educatability even of ordinary girls. The want of good secondary schools was at first severely felt; but women began to patch up their education by private study or at public Lectures. The Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh, providing Lectures, Library, and Reading-Room, founded in 1846, was openfrom the first to women, as well as to men, and in many a large town were similar opportunities.
Mr. Thomas Oliphant of that city, in the same year, started a large School in Charlotte Square, to which he added two “Advanced Classes” for the elder girls. There were taught Literature and Science in new and suggestive methods, that many women, still living, have rejoiced in. The Normal Schools for training Teachers had always been open to women; but these “Advanced Classes” were intended for women of leisure, those who had been accustomed to leave a Ladies’ Finishing School, to become the Butterflies of Ball-Rooms, or better-class domestic drudges. A host of imitators showed the demand for schools of Mr. Oliphant’s style.
In London, the Public Day School Company, since 1871, has done splendid work, and trained thousands of girls; and higher schools and colleges all over the country, have given solid education to a class of young women, to whom, formerly, the most superficial smattering was considered sufficient.
Meanwhile, the Secondary Education of women having succeeded, the higher education was attempted. When the University Local Examinations were commenced, they were opened to girls as well as to boys, to women as well as to men. They soon proved that they were able to take advantage of their opportunities. Strong efforts were made in many quarters to have them admitted to the Universities on equal terms with men. Failing this, there were strenuous attempts made to secure, at least, theeducation, if not the other privileges of a University career.
The earliest University Classes for Womenwere opened in Edinburgh in the winter of 1867-8, when 265 women enrolled themselves as students in Professor Masson’s class on English Literature alone. In 1868-9, three branches of the Arts Curriculum were offered in Literature, Natural Philosophy, and Logic and Mental Philosophy; opportunities which spread until the whole field was covered. In October, 1869, Hitchin Temporary College was opened for women in similar connection with Cambridge University. In 1873, the Oxford Association for the Education of Women took shape. In 1876, Glasgow and St. Andrews joined the work, and other opportunities all over the country had to be arranged to meet the ever-increasing demand.
The first University to grant degrees to women on equal terms was London, in the new Charter of 1878. As a non-teaching university, however, its gift of Degrees was limited by the opportunities opened to women of acquiring professional education in recognised colleges.
The Royal University of Ireland in Dublin opened in 1880, and in its original Charter grants equal terms for men and women; and the Victoria University in 1880, allowing women instruction and examination in some departments, granted Degrees where they had passed sufficient examinations.
In 1892, the Scotch Universities were opened simultaneously.
Durham offered, under certain conditions, to admit women, conditions not finally arranged, when it found by its Charter that it could not do so. Education is, however, granted women in the affiliated colleges of Newcastle, and Titles, if not Degrees, allowed.
Cambridge admits women to its examinations, grants them a recognised place, but no Degrees. Oxford examines them, but also excludes them from full privileges. [x].
In none of these Universities can women, either as Undergraduates or Graduates, vote for the University Member of Parliament. The same anomaly exists as existed in relation to a property qualification. The real qualification in a University is based upon attending certain classes, passing certain examinations, living under certain conditions, and paying certain fees. Women fulfil all these duties, but they do not, even from their Alma Mater, receive the same privilege as their brothers, on a University Qualification; because the Reform Bill of 1867, while granting it to all men on property qualification, by clause 5, limited it to “male persons in Universities.” It is possible that, after a little more of the Higher Education, it will be found that they have attained “an improved understanding,” enough to allow them even to vote by the side of the navvy and the pot-boy.
The twenty-six years have not been lost, however, even in regard to Women’s Suffrage. Meanwhile have been growing up young men and young women, educated under the broadening effect of more equal privileges inlearning. The old restrictions seem to them meaningless in the new light of reason. A generous youth, in the older Universities, who has been beaten by a woman in a mathematical examination, feels his brow flush when he receives the reward that is denied to her, and feels shame instead of pride that he has to be protected against her competition. He would never dream of suggesting that she would “require an improved understanding to vote for a Parliament man.” In the youth of the country lies hope, if the youth be but trained aright.
The result of the educational opportunities has been to give women personal capability of entering professional life. But the Professions have certain powers of excluding competitors, and they have all done what they could to make entrance difficult or impossible. Women are now admitted to the Medical Profession. Several original professions they have invented for themselves, and they have done their best with the old. They have therefore gained new powers of acquiring property. Their energy and self-dependence have revolutionised the thoughts of men as regards their capability.
John Stuart Mill, in his “Subjection of Women,” p. 99, says: “If anything conclusive can be inferred from experience, without psychological analysis, it would be that the things women have not been allowed to do are just those that they succeed best in doing.” Association of ideas is doing its work in forming customs and in moulding habits of thought. No longer is a woman anincongruous sight in Halls of Learning or of Research, in Scientific Societies or on Boards of Guardians. Those who exclude women are learning that they themselves suffer by the exclusion.
They welcome them eagerly as Canvassers at elections. Ere long they will find it both natural and desirable to invite them to co-operate with them through the Ballot-box, “to choose a Knight of the Shire or a Burgess from a Borough, in the stead of all and of each of them, to go to the Parliament House, and there consulting with the Knights of other Shires,” to defend the interests ofthose who sent them.